


A Taste of Happily Ever After

by Skyler10



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who & Related Fandoms, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: F/M, Future Fic, Marriage, Matchmaker TARDIS, future kids
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-16
Updated: 2015-03-30
Packaged: 2018-03-18 02:59:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 8,742
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3553535
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Skyler10/pseuds/Skyler10
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Rose + Tentoo are forced to confront their "it's complicated" relationship status when a flirty co-worker and an interfering TARDIS-from-the-future mix things up!</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Spark

**Author's Note:**

> Soundtrack for this one: http://8tracks.com/skyler10fic/a-taste-of-happily-ever-after

Rose and the Doctor were sorely in need of a date night. If dating was what they were doing now since arriving in Pete’s World a year ago. They had originally clung to each other for dear life with separation anxiety so evident Pete made sure to pair them on every mission (once the Doctor relented and joined Torchwood as an independent contractor.) Then they had shared their stories of the past few years apart and argued a little but were still too grateful they were together to be too mad for too long. They eventually settled into a domestic routine as flatmates, co-workers and friends with boundary issues. They went to her family’s obligatory Vitex parties together, went on dates here and there, and held hands everywhere they went. The public labeled them a couple and neither attempted to amend that label in any way, but didn’t use it themselves. Occasional kisses left each wanting more, but neither was brave enough to push the equilibrium. So the status quo remained: a step up from where they had been in their home universe, but not nearly where either of them would like to be. 

As their anniversary of being reunited rapidly approached, the tension in the air played kerosene to their dynamite. One errant spark and their whole relationship could explode in either direction. That one strike of a match proved to be a rather unfortunate day at Torchwood. But by that point, the kindling had been set: living Earthbound together in a flat that was the same size on the inside and did not travel in space and time was more difficult than either of the two wanderers imagined.

Part of it, as any co-habitating couple could have told them, was that the honeymoon was wearing off. 

“What are you doing?” Rose asked with a hint of annoyance in her voice that told him she knew exactly what he was doing. That was fine. He could finally get this off his chest. 

“Making your bed since you seem to be incapable of it.” 

“Maybe I don’t want my bed made.” 

“I’m just trying to help, Rose. You never let me do anything around here without coming behind me ruining it.”

“Ruining it?’

“I meant re-doing it.”

“No, you don’t like the way I do things, so you go changing them and I have to put them back so I can find them.” 

“This is about the cupboard again, isn’t it? You can’t go bringing up the same old arguments.”

“If nothing gets solved from them, yeah, actually I can.” 

“We have to go to work. This pointlessness can continue later,” he concluded and grabbed the car keys. Sharing one car had seemed like a sensible thing until a few weeks ago when it started causing more little inconveniences and spats than it was worth. 

The two didn’t talk on their way to work and headed in their separate directions after clearing security. She had an office on the upper floors to check into before visiting some displaced aliens who were staying in a nearby hotel while waiting on their ride home. He was banished to the basement lab in R&D for months with a rogue robot to either repair or kill. 

The decision weighed heavily on him, though he had faced the same situation over and over for centuries. This time was different, however. It was a clinical one, without the frantic pace of rescuing a planet or companion. With no adrenaline racing through his veins or countdown clock ticking, he was faced with it day after day as a routine activity. It was just part of punching the clock, 9-5, deciding whether a semi-sentient machine would be better off dead. That was Torchwood for you. 

Rose, however, was at the top of her game in the field. She was as brave and brilliant as ever, but now held strength and experience of her own, some he liked to take a bit of pride and credit for, but mostly – and this part scared him, if he was honest – from the harsh reality of her time here and dimension hopping. 

They bickered more than ever lately. Well, he supposed all human couples did that. Just one more domestic thing to get used to. Not that they didn’t have their spats before, but… He sensed there was something deeper beneath it all for both of them. Perhaps the realization that this was their life now. Beds to make and cupboards to arrange and work obligations. 

He pondered as he tinkered, Time Lord mind whirring in his human body. The lab door opened just as he was about to give up on both the circuit in front of him and understanding the complex interior of his relationship with his… girlfriend? More-than-companion? “Friends with benefits” was quite far from the right description. 

“Hey there.” A female voice from behind him made her presence known. It was a Texan, not London, accent however, and he scowled unintentionally in recognition of who it must belong to. 

“Geez, Doc, you don’t have to be so…” 

“What, Candy?” Ridiculous name for a ridiculous girl. 

“Here’s the files on the robot the records department sent up for you,” she purred into his ear. Was she even more clueless about communication signals than he was? He wasn’t facing her because he was busy, not because he wanted her breath on his neck. 

He snatched the files and laid them on the countertop. 

“Thank you. Goodbye.”

“Aw, now, don’t be like that. Tell me what’s wrong.” Candy hopped up on the counter and swung her long, bare legs. Her black strappy heels matched a short skirt that pushed the limits of appropriate office attire.

The Doctor sighed and shook his head, trying not to roll his eyes when he saw her low cut top. At least she wasn’t vague about what she wanted; he had to give her that. 

“Is it those god-awful papers, Doc? I saw that they reported the boss’s daughter was out with another man. That true? I know you’re sweet on her.” 

He knew the snippet of conversation the so-called reporter overheard was a joke between Rose and her mum about the old him, but her words still riled him. Sweet on her? As in a little crush? The office assistant sitting on his countertop clearly didn’t know who she was talking to, he deduced. Just another attractive man in a lab coat to her, was he? 

The Doctor glanced up to check if Candy was being sincere in an attempt at connection or manipulative in an attempt to break down his barriers. She took the eye contact as confirmation that she was getting somewhere. 

“Of course, those rags are full of terrible lies, but you know there always seems to be a bit of truth behind their trash. I’m sure your dream girl is just having a bit of harmless fun though. No need to worry. Suppose when you’re an heiress, you can’t help it.”

“Stop it,” he growled. “That’s enough.” 

“Aw,” she pouted and patted his shoulder. “Didn’t mean to trouble you. That’s just the way it is when you set your heart on a pretty lil’ princess. But you don’t know what you’re missing. Lemme show you what a real woman has to offer.”

The Doctor snapped. He stood and grabbed her wandering hand from his arm. He gripped her wrist. Hard. 

“I said. Stop.” His eyes flashed with the Oncoming Storm. He saw genuine fear in her and relaxed. She wasn’t a danger, he reminded himself. Just a cheeky flirt in need of attention and validation. Rose had told him enough about how Candy threw herself at a man as a project, just until she had him bent to her will, then dropped him like an old hat. Power high, Rose had explained. 

“Honestly. And people say I have daddy issues,” Rose had snorted. “I do feel a bit sorry for her. Can’t be an easy life that leads a girl down that route.” 

The Doctor released Candy’s wrist, ready to offer compassion and apologies if she would accept it, but she flicked her glance to the opening door and dove in for a high intensity snog. Her arms wrapped around him holding him in place, but roamed in what would have appeared like a passionate embrace to whoever had entered the lab. 

He froze in shock. When he got over the “NOT AGAIN” stage, he pushed her away. As was his luck, it was too late. He turned to follow Candy’s smirk over his shoulder to the doorway where a near-hyperventilating Rose Tyler stood. 

Time stopped as the entire ordeal with Reinette flashed to his mind. Oh, this was not good. Very, very bad. 

“Rose!” He intended to call to her for protection against the seductress on his counter, but Rose was flying out the doors as fast as she could run. He ran a hand over his face in frustration and exhaustion. This was going to be a long day. 

“Out,” he demanded, not even turning to face Candy. When she simply tutted and moved to take his hand, he recoiled and snarled. “Get. Out. Now.” 

Candy pouted and sauntered away victorious. She dared to shoot a wink over her shoulder as she left, but hurried up as she took in his fury. 

With an empty lab once more, the Doctor collapsed in his chair and raked his fingers through his hair. 

“C’mon, pick up, pick up,” he begged at his mobile phone. It went to voicemail. 

“Rose. Please. You know that wasn’t what it looked like. You know who that was. I tried to stop her… Rose. I’m so sorry.” 

He waited what felt like an eternity but he didn’t receive a call back. 

He texted her: “Please. Please pick up.”

No reply. 

“Rose?”

Maybe she just needed some time to herself. 

An hour later, he gave up trying to concentrate on anything or get a response from her.


	2. The Explosion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The tension between Rose and Tentoo finally explodes... but will their relationship survive the fallout?

The car was still in the spot where they had parked it that morning, but her office was empty and the security guard said she had already left. 

The Doctor arrived home to a dark flat. 

“Rose?” He dropped his keys in the bowl by the door and searched for her. He expected to find her in the kitchen angry-cleaning or angry-baking (both curious habits she had picked up while they were apart), in the bath relaxing or, worst of all, in her bedroom crying. Hearing her crying through the locked door, especially when he was the cause, broke his heart like nothing else.

But she was nowhere to be found. He panicked a bit. Surely she hadn’t gone out on a mission in that state? She had looked… well, he had seen her more emotionally stable, that was for sure. And he knew the wrath of Rose Tyler. Apple didn’t fall far from the tree there. 

Jackie. She would know. 

“Hello, love,” Jackie answered her mobile. 

“Is Rose there?” he asked, a hint of desperation sneaking through. 

“Oh no. What did you do now?”

“Nothing! What do you mean ‘now’?” the Doctor asked in offense before remembering his purpose. “Never mind. Jackie, is Rose there?”

“No, just figured something must be wrong if you’re askin’. Or callin’ me at all. Doctor, is my daughter in trouble? Is she safe?” 

“Actually, I think I’m the one in trouble, if you know what I mean.” 

“Oh wait, here she comes. Must have gotten a ride back with her dad. Rose! It’s the Doctor!” 

“Tell him I’m going for a swim,” Rose said in the background. He winced as he heard the backdoor leading to the poolhouse open and shut a little more violently than necessary. 

“I don’t think she’s talkin’ to you,” Jackie inferred as she returned to their conversation. “Tell you what, give her the afternoon to cool off, then come over for dinner tonight. It’ll do you both good, Doctor.” 

“I don’t know, Jackie,” he fumbled as he rubbed the earlobe not next to the phone. “This time, I –”

He was cut off by a toddler’s delighted shriek. 

“Doctah!! Come play wit me!”

“There you go,” Jackie concluded, voice dripping with smug satisfaction. “You can’t resist Tony. I know you can’t.” 

Against his better judgment, he found himself agreeing. Weighing his options, though, at least Rose would be forced to interact with him. If he stayed home while she had dinner with her family, it would only emphasize the distance between them. 

“See you at 6?” he sighed in surrender. 

“See you then.” Jackie rang off, but not before he heard delighted shouts from his smallest and greatest admirer. 

\-----

He arrived at the Tyler mansion on time and prepared for anything. He had chosen Rose’s favorite of his ties and styled his hair the way he knew she liked. 

Never let it be said that the Doctor brought a knife to a gun fight. Well, that was purely metaphorical as he never did approve of weaponry. Never trusted himself with it, his innermost voice corrected. He frowned at the reminder of yet another issue he and Rose had yet to work out. She was more than capable of handling weaponry now and while reluctant to use it, didn’t argue when Torchwood required her to carry it. 

He, however, had made quite the scene when assigned his gun, embarrassing Rose and leading to their first real fight. The first fight that ended in her retreating behind a locked bedroom door and pretending it never happened in the morning. 

The Doctor realized he was staring at the front door with his hand raised, ready to press the button announcing his presence. He snapped back into reality as the door swung open to reveal Jackie with a plastered-on smile. 

“Imma ask you again. What have you done?” she demanded through tight lips, not letting him in, but not shutting him out. 

“What did she tell you?” The Doctor furrowed his brow. “It’s not what she thinks.” 

“Nothing! She didn’t say anything. Just said you two were fine and stared at me as if I had two heads like the aliens in your stories!” 

“Well… if she says we’re fine…” The Doctor swallowed and evaluated the situation. Maybe Rose was more understanding than he thought. Perhaps she was only mad at Candy and had simply had her phone off at work. He knew he was being naïve, but if she wanted to play ignorant, he could play along. 

Rose acted perfectly normal throughout dinner, with one exception: she ignored him completely. It wasn’t easy to do either, as he was sending her a variety of inquisitive, apologetic and frustrated glances throughout the meal. Poor Pete had no idea of what he was in the middle of, but mercifully kept the conversation rolling. Tony played with his food and hogged the Doctor’s attention, blissfully unaware of anything but his superhero and the gloriously squishy mashed potatoes on his plate. He knew how to use a spoon, of course. He just preferred not to, he informed the Doctor (in the vocabulary of a 2 year old, of course). The Doctor wasn’t sure he blamed him. Start with doing things the civilized way and soon you’ll be trapped in domestics and societal expectations. 

Unfortunately this last part of their side conversation was heard by the rest of the table. For the first time since the lab, Rose was looking directly at him. If he had any doubt about her impending wrath, it was forgotten now. He physically shrunk down in his seat at her glare.

“You. With me. Now,” she demanded coolly before leaving the room. Here it was. 

“Excuse me,” the Doctor said politely to the rest of the table and followed her down the hallway, across the posh living room and out into the back garden. The warm summer night was tinged with a cool breeze which made the tiki lamps flicker. Fairy lights crisscrossed above their heads. No doubt Jackie’s preparation for dessert and after-dinner drinks on the patio. 

Rose stomped down the pathway away from the house before turning to him abruptly. Her arms were crossed tightly across her chest and he noticed she was wearing a necklace Mickey had given her, presumably to anger him as much as he had hurt her this afternoon. 

“What the hell are you even doing here?!” she shouted. 

“You told me to follow you,” he explained dumbly. She glared at him again and he took another shot. “Your mother invited me to dinner and I wanted to… see… you.” He mumbled the last bit, now wondering if he should have just stayed home.

“No. I mean what are you doing here in…” her voice broke, but her resolve remained steady. “In my life.” 

“Rose!” he whispered. His gaping mouth was dry as cotton, unsure of how to respond to such a verbal slap. 

“You feel trapped, hmm?”

He decided on honesty now that they were talking again. 

“Yeah, sometimes,” he confessed with a shrug and sheepishly kicked the dirt path with one Converse. 

“I knew it.” She shook her head in disbelief at his idiocy. Oh. He switched from kicking the dirt to mentally kicking himself. Yes was the wrong answer, then. So much for honesty. 

“This all too domestic for you?” She raised her voice again and he spotted tears. Oh Rassilon, not the tears. “We apes not good enough for your superior Time Lord needs? Do you know Tony has a longer attention span than you sometimes? Oh, I was countin’ down, I was. Knew it would just be a matter of time before you’d be off, takin’ that bloody spaceship with you even if it’s just a rock in your pocket. Well, even without a fully grown TARDIS I’m sure you can find your way around the planet, and pick up plenty of willing companions along the way. Was that what today was about, then? Sample the Candy, bit of a taste test?” She spat out the last question with a venom he’d never heard in her voice. It was almost unrecognizable from her usual sweet melody and threw him off his axis. 

“It’s nothing like that and you know it. Why are you doing this?” He was firm but quiet, the same tone he used when talking down raging villains or madmen. 

“I’m not trapping you, Doctor.” She wiped away tears and smudged her running mascara. “Go on. Leave. I could never put you in a cage of… this.” She gestured to the mansion, her family, their entire world. 

“Stop it. You know that kiss wasn’t me. It was just her doing what she does. Just like Reinette.”

“You really want to go there?” Suddenly Rose’s ferocity was back with vengeance. “Because I don’t think you do.” 

“I swear I was trying to get Candy to leave. She was being a… brat… and I told her to stop and to get out.”

“She said something about me, didn’t she?”

“And I didn’t want to hear it so I made her shut it and was about to make her leave when you came in.” 

“So this is my fault?!” she cried. 

“No! You’re twisting my words! I TOLD you! It was nothing, Rose!” He was shouting now and running his hand through his hair so his spikes stood out at every wild angle. 

“But you do want to leave, don’t you?” she asked bitterly, but didn’t let him answer. “This can never be enough. Maybe it’s all just too human for you. You’ll never be one of us, Doctor, and I can’t expect you to be. I won’t be your ball and chain. I’m done.” She turned to walk back toward the house, arms folded tightly against herself once more in armor. She only turned back to him once, just enough for one final blow:

“Whatever this is, whatever we are? I’m out.” 

She shook her head and stepped back inside. He watched her through the large open windows as she ascended the staircase, clearly headed to her old room where she had slept before starting work on the dimension cannon. 

The Doctor turned away from the house as she disappeared from view and studied the night sky. 

“Where did I go wrong?” he pled with the stars. “Tell me. I can’t lose her. Not now. Not again. I can’t. TELL me!”

But they sparkled on in silence. 

He nodded and stuffed his hands in his pockets. He let himself out the side gate and walked home in the dark.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> All I'm going to say is: stay tuned because Rose's side gets told next... and that's when things get interesting. ;)


	3. The Catalyst

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Now for Rose's side of the story. And my original inspiration for this fic, the ever-lovely interfering!TARDIS. <3

Agent Rose Tyler wasn’t afraid of Daleks. Or Cybermen. Or aliens of any variety.   
  
But there was one fear that consumed her heart and mind: the Doctor choosing to leave her. Again.  
  
So she made the choice for him. She’d learned from the best, after all.   
  
It had taken him so long to say he loved her, even then it was only after she fought her way back to him. She sometimes wondered if it was just a tactic to get her to choose to stay with her family, to help him get settled in this new world, to be his keeper like the fully Time Lord Doctor wanted. She was the one who initiated their rare kisses, who defended his alien ways when they clashed with Torchwood policy, who had to show him around Pete’s World for the past year. Of course, she knew that was all circumstantial and didn’t prove anything, but even objectively it all felt a bit one-sided. She was used to being his companion, not his babysitter, and every time he encountered a new quirk of this parallel universe in his boundless curiosity, she was the one cleaning up the damage.   
  
Then there was her growing list of his nervous tics: the restless glances out the window of whatever room he occupied, the bounce of his leg when he had to sit still, the way he avoided her questions prodding him to open up to her. Added to his history as a chronic runaway from the messier parts of life, Rose was almost surprised he was still there when she woke up each morning.   
  
Frankly, she felt trapped too. But as much as she wanted to travel again, she felt even more trapped in their not-lovers status. Lines from “He’s Just Not Into You” rolled through her mind as she replayed the past few months. Was she really that pathetic? At times he seemed so devoted, but never actually committed to anything.   
  
That week at lunch with her co-workers the typical office gossip turned to dating.   
  
“Just dump him, Lisa. It’s been years! He isn’t all in. You need a guy who’s all in. Let him go.”  
  
“But…” Lisa had blubbered. “I just want us to be happy. I’ve tried everything.”  
  
“Trust me,” the first woman encouraged. “You will be without his drama. But I know that’s not where your head is. You want to make HIM happy. Well, if he’s not all in by now with everything you two have been through, you’ve got to let him be happy on his own. He’s loyal. Too loyal. He’ll never hurt you so he’ll keep on playing along. But it’s best for both of you to just cut your ties and set yourselves free.”   
  
Lisa had nodded. “I love it here, but he’s always hated this city. He wants to go to India. India! Can you imagine me in _India_?”   
  
Though she’d certainly been more exotic places than India and would go anywhere the Doctor wanted, Rose shuddered at the memory of how the description of her relationship hit home. He was obligated to her. That had to be it, the reason for this relational wall – as real as the white barrier in Torchwood Tower that separated them the first time. Except this time they had a choice. She wanted him more than she could stand, but so much loss in her short life had told her that was all the more reason to fear. Maybe he just needed her to be the one to break it off. Coward. _“Every time.”_ The words echoed in her mind.   
  
Well, now she had done it. He fought it, but she knew that would pass. He just didn’t like change. And she knew he did care for her as a friend. Maybe he even tried to love her as she loved him, a consolation prize for all he had lost. But they had too much history together for anything fake, too many complicated emotions and trauma. She couldn’t go on getting her heart drawn out every second of every day only to wake up another year from now and realize they hadn’t gone anywhere. Or worse, had gone backwards in their relationship. Just flatmates with a shared past in another world. Or possibly, the one thing that might kill her, to find their flat empty of his things except for an apologetic goodbye note.  
  
She did the right thing. She let him go.   
  
Now on her bed in her parents’ house, she curled up in pain and wept.   
  
\-----  
  
Rose awoke the next morning to the sound of a TARDIS materializing in her bedroom. The pitch was lighter, less of a groaning screech and more of a sing-song wheeze, but it still made her stomach flip. The TARDIS in front of her flickered from wardrobe-shaped to the old familiar police box as its mission overrode the chameleon circuit. She needed young Rose to trust her.  
  
Rose didn’t know any of this at the time, of course. It was only in hindsight that she remembered the details. At the moment, she was trying to wake up from this dream (or nightmare), but she couldn’t. She was already awake. Still in her clothes from the night before.   
  
Heart pounding, she scrambled to the blue door and pulled out her key, still around her neck after all these years. It slid in more smoothly than it used to and unlocked. She took a deep breath and pushed the door open without a single squeak.   
  
The interior dazzled her. It was brighter and more beautiful than ever.   
  
Rose took a minute to gaze around at the ceiling, coral, controls, grating… all there but younger, somehow. Happier.   
  
The heartache came back as she remembered saying the same thing to her new new Doctor on the zeppelin ride home from Bad Wolf Bay. He insisted he was the same man, but she could see a weight had been lifted from his soul, a freedom she had never seen in him lit his every move.   
  
“It’s because I won,” he had answered her questioning. “I got you.”   
  
Oh, what had she done? Regret filled her already and made her sick. She had to find him. Surely, if the TARDIS was here, some version of him had to have piloted her?   
  
The TARDIS hummed in disagreement. A childish “Unh uh!”   
  
“Alright then, how did you get here?” Rose inquired of the sentient ship. “You can’t have crossed the void. And you’re not the same, are you? So you must be…”  
  
_“Yours”_ the ship spoke in her mind.   
  
Rose gasped. The TARDIS had been able to communicate to her before in small, wordless hums or light flickers, but never directly.   
  
“Maybe the better question is why are you here?” Rose’s tone was reverent now. She may be angry with the Doctor, but she would always have a holy adoration for his ship. Her true home, she reminded herself.   
  
The TARDIS simply shut her doors and dematerialized. Rose grabbed onto a railing at the last minute, but the ride was considerably smoother than she had ever experienced. As she landed, Rose noticed a distinctive lack of that old grinding noise that signaled they had arrived at a new place to explore.   
  
_“I’m not supposed to make that noise,”_ the TARDIS informed her. _“HE leaves the brakes on. Failed his driver’s test, you know.”_  
  
Rose laughed at the ship’s attitude. She was going to enjoy their new connection.   
  
“Where are we?” She pulled the monitor down, but only saw an armchair.   
  
_“Go,”_ The TARDIS commanded.   
  
Rose collected herself and patted the console. She trusted the TARDIS, even a new, younger version. Out there sat was what she was here for.   
  
She stepped out to find herself staring at her own sofa. On it, the Doctor relaxed, flipping through the channels on the telly. He stood abruptly as she appeared.   
  
“Doctor?”   
  
“You’re in the TARDIS? What’s wrong?” He searched her eyes, confusion and worry written on his face.  
  
“Nothing! I just…You're married?!” She stopped herself from potentially ruining a timeline with genuine shock at seeing a ring on his finger.   
  
The Doctor’s worry slipped away and she could practically see the lightbulb in his mind switch on.   
  
“Oh. Yes, I am.” He sent her a flirty wink, but she didn’t catch on to whatever game he thought they were playing. How could he do this? Get married to someone after all they had been through? Maybe it wasn’t a relationship he didn’t want. Maybe it was just her.   
  
His expression changed again as he realized she wasn’t playing her role.   
  
Nothing could have surprised her more than the next words out of his mouth.  
  
“Rose, where's our son?”   
  
“Our… our what?!”  
  
“OK. Interesting. Tell me the last thing you remember.” He eyed her suspiciously.   
  
She took in her surroundings. She was in a house. A proper one, not just a flat. With toys on the floor and wedding pictures of people who looked suspiciously like her and the Doctor. But with so much joy on their faces…  
  
“We had this huge fight,” she answered him. “I said the stupidest things. Thought I might lose you.”  
  
“Oh Rose, you couldn’t lose me,” he said as if it was the most obvious truth in the world. “What did we fight about?”  
  
“I tried to... set you free. I didn't even come home with you. Stayed at Mum and Dad’s. I think you thought it was because of Candy.” She said the name in shame. The whole ordeal seemed so petty now. “But it was really that I was just scared. So scared.”  
  
He embraced her, and she trembled at how much she wished this was her current-Doctor with her now, not some prospective version of him from the future.   
  
“I'm so sorry, love,” he soothed. “So, so sorry for that night. All the things I never did and said, leaving you to doubt. I drove you away.” He stepped back and ran a hand through his hair in frustration at the memory. “I couldn’t explain what I was even thinking to myself, much less to you.”  
  
“No, I was _horrible_ ,” she confessed. “I yelled at you and accused you of… of wanting to leave me and take her with you.”  
  
“I know. I’ve forgiven you a long time ago and I’d like to think you’ve forgiven me. It’s all in the past. Ancient history for us here. Now go tell that me.” He nodded toward the TARDIS. “Past me. He’s desperate not to lose you.”  
  
“And... You said we’re OK? You still love me?”  
  
“We end up here don't we?” He smiled in that Doctorish way of his. The very sight of it gave her hope.   
  
“Happily ever after?” she asked tentatively.   
  
“Well, yeah… actually yeah, I suppose it is. A little different than you thought?” He indicated the toys on the floor and cereal on the table and a dissected toaster he’d been fixing.   
  
“Looks perfect,” she murmured.   
  
“Really?” He dipped his head, suddenly shy. “Because I wouldn't trade it for the universe.”  
  
“You mean that?” She needed to hear it again to be sure.  
  
“Yep. With all my one, whole human heart.”  
  
She smiled.  
  
“But you have the chance, you know,” he reminded her. “You could get back in that box and change it all...”  
  
“Never. Not one second.”  
  
“We still quarrel,” he warned. “Little stuff, and it gets better, but it's still hard some days.”   
  
“It's worth it?”   
  
“Oh yes,” he laughed a little. She sensed that he found this version of her adorable with all he knew of their time since then. “Now. Go home. Before this you comes back and you both see yourself. I would say that's the strangest thing I’ve said to you in a while, but then again, being a Time Lord's wife, you’re used to it by now. Well, this now, at least.”  
  
Her stomach flipped at hearing him say those words. Wife. His wife.   
  
“Goodbye, Rose.”   
  
“Goodbye, Doct-”  
  
“Mummy!”   
  
A little girl, freshly awakened from her nap in footie pjs ran into the room and wrapped herself around her legs.   
  
“Sweetheart, Mummy has to go now,” the Doctor explained patiently.  
  
Rose pulled the little girl up in her arms despite a warning look from the Doctor. Tears formed and she fought them as she held her daughter close.   
  
“Rose. You really have to go. This is all just potential for you. One possibility.”  
  
She nodded and handed him the toddler.   
  
The sight of the Doctor holding their daughter was too much. She kissed them both, first her future daughter's forehead, then a peck to her future husband's lips.   
  
“Go,” he implored her.   
  
“I love you.”   
  
“Quite right.” He winked before saying what she needed to hear like water in the desert. “I love you too.”   
  
“Wove you, Mummy!” The toddler waved.   
  
Rose smiled and stepped back in the TARDIS just as her future self pulled into the drive. Before he could tell her again, she shut the door and faded away.   
  
“Clean up time! Upstairs you go!” The older Rose urged their son. Grumbling noises and little boy footsteps echoed in response.   
  
“Doctor?” She entered the living room to see him staring at the wall, holding their daughter. “What happened, love?” she asked, rubbing a hand across his back.  
  
“Do you remember the night you stayed at your parents’ after a fight?”   
  
“That was today, wasn’t it?” She switched to communicating through her bond to avoid scaring their daughter. _“That awful night I tried to break us up. ‘Let you go’ as I recall?”_  
  
“Yes.”   
  
“Mummy?” Their little girl questioned. “You were there and now you're here!”   
  
Rose just grinned and hugged them both tight.   
  
“Happily ever after indeed.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A little nervous to hear what you all think! It's a long one, but hopefully, worth it? Only a little bit left to go after this. :D


	4. Ignition

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tentoo and Rose FINALLY talk.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here it is! Still an epilogue to follow, though.

The TARDIS materialized inside their flat, as she expected. The monitor showed a profile of the Doctor on the veranda, dangling his legs over the edge between bars of the railing. It was a powerful image: wrinkled suit, deep lines on his face indicating he hadn’t surrendered to the human need for sleep, sadness in his posture like she hadn’t seen in years. His hands wrapped around the bars of his symbolic cage as if he had given up on shaking and raging his way out, but was still clinging on out of habit. 

She couldn’t wait a second longer. She ran out to him and the TARDIS dematerialized as both feet touched carpet. Briefly, the loss of friendly hum in her mind distracted her from her mission. But if the future played out the way she had seen, the TARDIS would be back in her life soon. 

Rose swallowed and slid back the screen separating her from everything she wanted in the world. 

“Doctor?” Her tone was timid and gentle, such a contrast to the bitter poison of last night’s words. 

“You told me you’d never leave me.” He didn’t turn around. Just kept staring out at the city below. 

Rose’s heart shattered into a million piercing shards. The silence between them stretched thin. 

“I know,” she finally answered with trembling voice and body. She sat down next to him on the ground. He closed his eyes and let his chest expand and contract with focused breathing. She didn’t know if it was in sadness or anger. Or both, knowing him. 

“I never would,” she said softly. “Not really. I was just terrified. I let fear change me. Take over.” 

“You’re not scared of anything,” he countered. “I’ve seen you-”

“One thing,” she interrupted. “Just one.”

He met her gaze and she saw his eyes were bloodshot. 

“Losing you,” she supplied. “I was so sure you were going to leave me. That I could never be enough for you.”

“That’s what you meant when you said ‘this,’ isn’t it? You ‘could never cage me in this.’ You pointed to the domestics, our family, but you meant you.” Realization dawned and his features cleared as if a cloud had lifted. 

Rose bit her lip and nodded. She turned back to face the city, the lump in her throat threatening to prevent her from finishing her apology. And she was going to finish this no matter what. 

“I thought by now, if you wanted me, you would have said or done something or things would be different… I don’t know. All this fear just crept up and it was all I could see or hear,” Rose rambled, verbalizing it all for the first time. “I just figured it would be best to cut it off myself. That somehow it would hurt us less if we didn’t drag it out.”

“Rip off the plaster,” he summarized. 

“Yeah.”

“What changed? Why are you here?” 

Rose’s lip turned up at the corners. 

“An old true blue friend came by to pick me up. Said she had something to show me,” Rose’s tone warmed at the near-audible snap of his attention to her every word. “Doctor, the TARDIS showed me a bit of our future. We’re gonna be OK.” 

She smiled in full at the memory of his wedding band, their little girl in her arms, the real, proper house. 

“How do you mean the TARDIS? What TARDIS?” His forehead wrinkled in disbelief, but she merely looked down to his pocket where she knew the coral was feeding off the remnant of his Time Lord energy. 

“Oh! Our TARDIS,” he answered his own question. 

“She took me to see you in the future. That is, a potential version of you.” She blushed, unsure of how much to reveal. What might make him run.

“Tell me, Rose,” he probed softly. “If it changes things, I need to know.” 

“It was the TARDIS that changed things, really. She could speak into my mind. Real words and sentences, yeah? She wasn’t just your… I mean, it was like she knew me as more than a passenger.” 

“You were bonded,” he inferred in wonder. “You telepathically bonded to our TARDIS. That means we could…” He stopped himself abruptly and his emotional barriers slammed back up. He stared at the horizon again and turned in his lips as if trying to belatedly hold in his slip up. 

Rose had to tell him now or she felt she might never get him back. With a deep breath, she revealed her last hope. 

“Doctor, we were married. And…” She gathered all her strength for the inevitable end. “We had a daughter. And a son, but he was off with that me somewhere and they were about to come home so I couldn’t stay. Just long enough for you to tell me we got it. Our happily ever after. Even if it was a little different than we thought. That’s what you said.” 

“And you wanted that?” His tone remained neutral, perfected by centuries of practice. “You still want it with me?” 

“The Doctor and Rose Tyler in the TARDIS. And family. Just the way it should be,” she echoed from their past. 

He turned to her with sudden fire, months of his own self-doubt reaching combustion point. 

“Forget what ‘should’ be! Is it what you want?!” 

The force of his stare would have frightened anyone else, but – as only she could – Rose saw his desperation, the longing he was forbidding himself from expressing. 

“More than anything.” 

His intensity blossomed into radiance as her words registered. 

“And you, Doctor?” The question was more than a hope for reciprocation. It was a ghost from a year before when they had stood on a cold beach in Norway and promised to live their short human lives together.

“You thought I was saying I felt trapped _because_ of you,” he finally deduced. “I meant except for when I’m with you. Don’t you remember? Stuck with you?”

“Not so bad.” She smiled briefly, but wasn’t letting him get away this time. “You didn’t answer-”

“Yes,” he cut her off with certainty and took her hands in his. “You never have to question that and you certainly never have to fear losing me. I’m yours. Forever, Rose Tyler. I should have told you every day since we stood on that beach. Kissed you like that every bloody day. I thought maybe…”

“What?”

“I thought maybe I was your consolation prize, the substitute for the real thing.” He took in the scenery again as his courage failed. “A cheap copy of the man you wanted to travel the stars with.”

“No!” She assured quickly. “I mean, I do miss our life before, but you are him. Better. You stayed when he didn’t even say goodbye. You finished the sentence, Doctor. I chose you. Funny thing is, I thought the same thing about me. Thought I was his punishment to you for… all the things he called you.” 

The Doctor shook his head with a rueful hint of a smile. 

“He should have told you himself. The way he saw it, he was sacrificing it all for the good of the universes. By giving us each other – and our family – he was giving up the woman he loved. You do know he loved you, Rose? It’s not just because I’m human now or needed someone to change me, like he said. It had to be you. I’ve loved you for so much longer than I’ve been this me.” 

“Blimey, conversations with you can be confusing.” She let out a little laugh. “But that’s something you said to me in the future too. That I would be used to it by then, being a Time Lord’s wife and all.” 

“Those are some of the most amazing words I’ve ever heard,” he murmured, turning toward her and leaning down to her lips. 

“And someday you’re going to make them come true?” 

“Someday, yeah. When we’re ready.” 

“Doctor?”

“Yeah?”

“Kiss me.”

“Then stop talking.”

He did kiss her then, and she kissed him back, both with all the healing and repentance they could express. 

They rested their foreheads together as they caught their breath. Rose replayed the words that had gotten them to this point and sat up straighter.

“Wait a minute, you said our. Our family?” 

“Wha?” The Doctor attempted to focus on something other than her lips, which he was already missing. 

“At least twice now you’ve said it. Mum and Dad and Tony… you love them too, don’t you?” The thought of him claiming her family as his own made her heart soar. 

“Of course. They are part of you. You said last night it might be too human for me? Quite the opposite. For the first time since…”

“Gallifrey?” she supplied after a minute.

“Yeah. I have a place outside the TARDIS to belong, a home. Even on my own planet I didn’t often feel that way. Not until I met you. Now you believe me that I’m not going anywhere? At least not without my Rose.” His tone turned to teasing. “Don’t tell your mum I’ve gone soft on ‘em now. I’ll never hear the end of it.”

“You wanna travel with me?” Rose confirmed, delight dancing through her.

“I’d love that, yeah.” His answer transported her back to that first Christmas, standing outside the TARDIS in the falling ash. “I’d love for you to come.”

“Just like old times,” he mused. She wondered if he was remembering that night too. 

“Nah. Even better.” Rose smiled with a mischievous twinkle in her eye. 

“How’s that then?” 

“We can do this now.” She pulled him in for another kiss, this one sweet and celebratory. 

They enjoyed the moment for a while longer, but eventually he pulled them to their feet and she turned to go inside, eager to start their new chapter. He stopped her, however, capturing her hands once more. 

“Do you trust me, Rose?” 

“Of course.”

“No, not like that. Not after all you’ve told me today. Do you believe me when I say you’re not going to lose me? When… when I tell you I love you?” 

Rose inhaled the sacredness of the question, of the decision she was making, her vow. 

“I do.” 

“Good.” He nodded and swallowed the lump in his throat, apparently catching the symbolism behind her word choice. 

“And you know that even when I’m very angry and we drive each other spare and life is mad with babies and a brand new time machine space ship,” she dared ask. “You know I’m never leaving you again? That I’m still holding on to forever and, Doctor, that I am so madly in love with you?”

It was exactly what he needed to hear. Therefore, it deserved the only appropriate response: 

“I do.” 

And she knew beyond the shadow of any fear or doubt: Their happily ever after was on its way.


	5. From the Ashes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A little epilogue to tie up loose ends. :)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Trigger warning: mentions of domestic violence

Rose had one thing left to do before letting the events of the last few days settle into the past. 

She found the woman she was searching for at the corner pub, as expected. 

“You know,” Rose began, pulling up a chair. “We see each other here all the time. Perhaps it’s time I said hello.” 

Candy’s head shot up from staring at her drink to stare at Rose. Rose almost left as she saw the unmistakable signs of emotional breakdown. But she saw something else too that made her stay. Working at Torchwood teaches its female agents many things, including how to expertly cover bruises with makeup. 

Unfortunately for her, Candy was only an office girl and had apparently never perfected the technique. 

“Hey, it’s ok,” Rose soothed the girl’s apprehension. “I’m not here to hurt you or shout at you. Well, not anymore, at least.”

“Why not?” the Texan finally spoke. “I sure deserve it.”

“I would be lying if I said I wasn’t angry. You tried to come between me and the Doctor. Ask anyone who’s tried that and they’ll tell you it’s not a safe place to be if you value your life. But it takes more than a flirt to split us up.”

Candy’s eyes were wide as planets. 

“You… and him? You’re together? But I thought… But you’re a Tyler!” 

Rose brushed off the girl’s ignorant rudeness with amusement. 

“You thought he was just a scientist. But oh, Candy. He’s not. Where we come from, he’s the most powerful man in the world. Any world. I’ve seen him stop wars with a glance, set the baddies running at the mention of his name, bring down governments with a single sentence.”

“Who is he?”

“He’s… the Doctor. And him and me? Not even the universe itself can tear us apart.”

Candy bit her lip and turned away, shaking her head. 

“No, that kinda thing is for fairytales and stuff. Men aren’t… like that. I would know.” 

“The Doctor is. There are good ones out there along with the bad. I have known both. Trust me. I’ve seen more than you could possibly know. Maybe I can help you?”

Candy raised a skeptical eyebrow. 

“Alright. Ever dated a cowboy? A real one?” Candy’s tone was a challenge. 

“Uhh… I can’t say that I have,” Rose replied, a bit thrown by the question. 

“They drink. A lot. And they get real angry when you try to stop ‘em. 15 stitches before I finally left him. We’d been dating since high school. Both our mommas said we’d end up together. Looked so perfect to everyone else, but I couldn’t do it anymore. Got away from him only to meet one of your British boys. Cute accent, hot, a lot smarter and hell of a lot richer than I was. So I followed him here.” Candy stopped as if challenging Rose to run out of this horribly awkward conversation. 

“Is he the one who…?”

“What one?”

“The one who gave you that.” Rose indicated her badly hidden purple bruise. “I know what it looks like. I tried to hide it too. Dropped out of school before it was over. But my mum saw one day and I knew I was done. Broke it off and moved home that night. Never saw him again.” 

“That’s how I felt about Colton. The cowboy.” 

“And what about this bloke of yours now?”

Candy visibly shivered. 

“He’s different. He doesn’t just talk big about… doing stuff. I’ve seen it.”

“And felt it?”

Candy nodded and swallowed, still unable to meet Rose’s compassionate expression. 

“The Doctor and me, we can help, if you want,” Rose offered. “Our flat is crowded with two as it is, but we could find you a safe place.”

“Wow. Y’all live together. Right.” Candy blushed, obviously mentally kicking herself. “No. And you can’t tell Director Tyler – I mean, your dad.”

“He could find somewhere, though…”

“No! He can’t know. No one can.”

“I won’t tell him, then.” Rose held up her hands in surrender. “But do you have somewhere?”

“Yeah,” Candy whispered, voice catching in her throat. “My parents want me to come home. But they are so proud of me, leaving and earning my way over here. Most folks there never travel 90 miles outside the county line. So I was hanging on here, trying to find a reason to stay, to not be the failure of my hometown. But with my ex here, I can’t meet anyone worth a lick… even when I do, he’s taken. Then it’s either all ‘our little secret’ or his wife tries to murder me. Sometimes both. Or, just this week, one guy was too in love with someone else to notice me.”

The two exchanged rueful, apologetic smiles. 

“He really loves you, ya know,” Candy murmured. “Most guys would’ve been all over me if I went to them like that. I just didn’t get it. But now I do.”

“Yeah?”

“You must be something special. You shoulda beat me up by now. Who knows, Torchwood agent like you could probably kill me as many ways as those other women want to. But you’re just sitting here listening, offering to help, like you don’t hate me.”

“I hate what you did to us. What you have done to other couples, from the sounds of it. But I also hate what’s happened to you. And I do wish I could help.”

“I’m not worth it. Everyone knows that.” 

“You can change, you know. You are worth it. Just wait for the right one – the good ones.”

“Does the Doctor know? About the boy who hit you?”

“Yeah, he does.” 

Tears welled up in Candy’s eyes at that. 

“When I told my ex about my past, that’s when it began from him too. Basically gave him permission in his eyes.” 

“Candy, you’ve got to get away from him. Go home to your mum and dad for a while. Maybe not forever. But you need them.”

“And you think maybe I’ll meet someone like your… like the Doctor? A good one?”

“In time. Just give it time. Learn to love you. That’s when the good ones come.” 

Candy dabbed at her running mascara and held her head up high in forced strength.

“That settles it then,” she stated, pulling a boarding pass to Dallas/Fort Worth International Zeppelinport out of her purse. “My pastor from back home bought me this ticket. Said to consider it a gift from God. I couldn’t decide whether to get on the flight or not. But I think I can do it now. Leaves tomorrow morning. Just enough time to pack. Mind giving this letter to your dad?” Candy handed over a letter of resignation, crinkled from spending weeks in her purse, just waiting for her to have the courage to hand it in. 

“Good luck, Candy.” Rose took the letter, stood and extended a hand in friendship and reconciliation. 

“Thank you, Rose Tyler.” Candy shook her hand, and Rose felt the last remnant of bitterness fall away.


End file.
